Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
Oil prices slid by more than 1% Monday morning on account of saturation in the global crude market and worries that the easing of lockdowns in countries might spur a fresh wave of the coronavirus outbreak in some parts of Asia.<\/p>\n
Brent, Nigeria\u2019s oil grades benchmark, was trading at $30.46 per barrel, 51 cents or 1.7% lower than its price at the previous session, as of 07:24 West African Time.<\/p>\n
U.S. West Texas Intermediate had shed 49 cents or 2%, selling for $24.25 about the same time.<\/p>\n
The two benchmarks have posted moderate gains in the last two weeks on the back of loosening restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
However, energy investors are nursing fear about the implications that the speculation about a new round of coronavirus infections in northeast China and South Korea might have for business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s definitely a cause for concern as the last thing people want is for lockdowns to happen again across multiple cities, but I think authorities should be much more prepared right now to cope with a second wave,\u201d OCBC economist, Howie Lee, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the risk environment looks quite conducive for further upside,\u201d he added, noting that Brent could stabilise at $30 per barrel for some time.<\/p>\n
Around the world, demand has fallen by around 30% as the pandemic hindered free movement, causing oil storage to build up rapidly.<\/p>\n
Bonny Light, Nigeria\u2019s premium oil grade, added up 10.16% at the last session to close at $24.93 per barrel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: Oil prices slid by more than 1% Monday morning on account of saturation in the global crude market and worries that the easing of lockdowns in countries might spur a fresh wave of the coronavirus outbreak in some parts of Asia. Brent, Nigeria\u2019s oil grades benchmark, was trading at $30.46 per barrel, 51 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":9898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[1451,228],"class_list":["post-24982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-covid-19","tag-oil-production"],"yoast_head":"\n